Aiptasia in my cryptic zone??

[M. Tournesol]

Today, during my water change, I decided to have a look at my cryptic zone (red arrow in photo 2). When,  KaBoom, I discovered a glass anemone (see photo 1) curling up at the light of my trusty phone flash. 

Do Aiptasia live in the dark? did I win another pest? If yes, why do I not see any in the main tank? should I call it Darth Ptasia?

 

Thank you for your input.

 

[Zer0]

Lol cryptic zone. But yes, aiptasia can survive under ridiculously harsh conditions, and since they do have mouths they can catch detritus/organisms and feed themselves that way instead of photosynthesis. They will generally always prefer light, but they certainly can live in the dark. It’s possible that you also just caught it on the move to a more preferable location. 

[M. Tournesol]

 

13 hours ago, Zer0 said:

It’s possible that you also just caught it on the move to a more preferable location. 

Yes maybe, but it would have to go trough a propeller to go out of the cryptic zone  Hahaha Hahaha Haha ha.

13 hours ago, Zer0 said:

Lol cryptic zone.

Thank you ☺️. I have an inline heater, inline chiller, inline refugium/alguae reactor and an inline cryptic zone for my 8 gallon 😆.

 

Now that the monster was identified, I must convince myself to remove it 😒. I think I will take a week of reflexion. Removing the rocks in my eheim classic 350 is a real bore 😩.

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by M. Tournesol
wrong conversion liter to gallon

[Murphs_Reef]

If it goes through a prop.... You'll end up with hundreds of them...

[M. Tournesol]

😱

[rough eye]

what's in your display tank that eats aiptasia?

[Zer0]

5 hours ago, Murphych said:

If it goes through a prop.... You'll end up with hundreds of them...

Unfortunately he is 100% correct. If it gets obliterated by a pump, any portion that has an in-tact piece of the oral disc has a very high chance of regeneration. It’s one of the reasons aiptasia is so prolific at spreading. 

[M. Tournesol]

7 hours ago, rough eye said:

what's in your display tank that eats aiptasia?

Nothing. I have to little gobies in my 8 gallon. 

 

But I can be the on duty Aiptasia killer!

Edited May 31, 2021 by M. Tournesol
wrong conversion liter to gallon

[M. Tournesol]

4 hours ago, Zer0 said:

Unfortunately he is 100% correct. If it gets obliterated by a pump, any portion that has an in-tact piece of the oral disc has a very high chance of regeneration. It’s one of the reasons aiptasia is so prolific at spreading. 

This don't surprise me. It correspond to the horror stories told about aiptasia.

 

I didn't see any on my coral plugs. It should have comme from my live rock (indo). If true, the little anemone have been living its life quietly in the dark for 4/5 months. Hope it stay here 🤞. 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

If in doubt, peppermint shrimp 👍🏼

[M. Tournesol]

But how many Lysmata wurdemanni in a shallow 8 gallon (ada 60f) and will they eat my pocilloporidae frags or my zoanthus?

[M. Tournesol]

same question for my lonely feather duster.

[M. Tournesol]

All photos i see on French vendor seems to be Lysmata boggessi sold under the name of Lysmata wurdemanni. Some sites say that boggessi shrimps eat sps and other call them reef safe 🤪.

[Murphs_Reef]

43 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

But how many Lysmata wurdemanni in a shallow 8 gallon (ada 60f) and will they eat my pocilloporidae frags or my zoanthus?

I won't want to speak for any other peppermint than mine (only have one and had it over 12 months), but it never bothers anything other than picks between polyps of newly added coral and eats Aiptasia when they present. 

[M. Tournesol]

8 minutes ago, Murphych said:

 peppermint than mine

what species? (figure 3)

https://peerj.com/articles/3786/

[rough eye]

mine is Lysmata wurdemanni, does not eat corals as far as i know (i have no sps) and i have never seen another aiptasia since getting one shrimp.

[Murphs_Reef]

Not a clue. Just a peppermint shrimp. 

[Zer0]

My peppermint shrimp grew a taste for goniopora and I spent literal weeks trying to catch the darn thing. They are extremely cautious and very fast, they don’t come investigate your hands like cleaner shrimp do. If you do go the pep shrimp route, just be sure you positively get the correct species and you should be good.

[rough eye]

my peppermint shrimp is very curious about my hand and i suspect soon i can get him to clean it. he always comes around to see when i'm pulling algae, to the extent i have to be careful i don't accidentally yank one of his antennae.